Broker says some WA farmers unfairly bearing cyclone burden

WA farmers who are located further from the area struck by tropical cyclone Seroja than Sydney is from Melbourne are bearing the cost of a spike in insurance premiums after the event, an Albany-based broker says.

Tropical Cyclone Seroja made landfall a year ago near Kalbarri – which is almost 1000km north of Albany – causing losses of almost $400 million. It was WA’s biggest loss since the 2010 Perth hailstorms, and comparable with cyclones Joan in 1975, Alby in 1978 and Hazel in 1979.

“Unfortunately there are farmers out there paying a 25% premium increase and they have nothing to do with Seroja and are thousands of kilometres away,” Albany District Insurance Brokers Account Executive Luke Cameron tells insuranceNEWS.com.au. “That is pretty tough.”

“We tried to have a word with a couple of our rural insurers at the start of this year to see if we could get any relief and try to set a different platform rating platform for the rural market south of Perth, but unfortunately it couldn’t be done.”

Cyclone Seroja attracted widespread attention for crossing the WA coastline unusually far south and was atypical from a meteorological and insurance perspective. A phenomenon known as the Fujiwhara effect caused Seroja to interact with nearby Cyclone Odette, pushing it south so it made landfall at an unusually strong intensity for the latitude.

Even so, the event was a 10-hour drive north of Albany.

“Being south of the 26th parallel where the risk is considerably less, we are still paying for the rest of the state’s price rises,” Mr Cameron said. “South of Perth is actually paying for the loss as well.”

The comments on Seroja come as other brokers say the Federal Government must ensure its reinsurance pool for cyclone damage above the Tropic of Capricorn should include a focus on problems in WA and the NT.

Broome Insurance Brokers Director David Keys has previously told insuranceNEWS.com.au a “broad-brush approach” seems to be taken by the Government.

“There are different issues between the east and west, but it just seems to be all-embracing,” Mr Keys said.

“You could almost set your watch by the fact Queensland will have a cyclone, but it is not the same for WA. It is not the same sort of infrastructure, either.

“No insurer will give me the data to justify the rates that they are charging. Can we look at it region by region and not all-in together?”